École française de la seconde moitié du XVIIe siècle, d'après Simon Vouet (Paris 1590-1649).

The Virgin and Child asking for the breast. Oil on panel. Small horizontal lift in the middle right. H. 21 x W. 15 cm. In a gilded wood frame. History This delicate Madonna was almost certainly based on an engraving by Jean Boulanger (Amiens, 1608-1660), published in 1661, and modelled on a drawing by François Tortebat (Paris, 1616-1690), which was based on the painted work by Simon Vouet. The painted work was considered lost until its reappearance at auction in Stockholm in 2008 (Bukowski's, 05/28/2008, 89 x 73.5 cm, sold for 3,650,000 crowns, approx. 390,000€). It is in the same direction as the engraving and therefore as our painting. Our version differs in the addition of the green cloth forming a dai at the top. The engraving was accompanied by this poem: "jure ocule dextraque manu pressa ubera signat / queis lactens veré lac deus est homini" ("Seeing this right hand pressing against the breast / and asking for milk, we can see that God had become man"). Lot presented by Mr. Pierre-Antoine MARTENET, expert in Ancient Drawings and Paintings.